Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.3
2.5
Journals
Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control
applsci-logo
Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Applied Sciences Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Aerospace Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 3957

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Qinghua Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Interests: magnetic information navigation; inertial navigation; collaborative localization; formation control
Dr. Qingzhong Cai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Instrumentation and Optoelectronic Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: inertial navigation; integrated navigation; cooperative navigation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, significant progress has been made in the field of aircraft guidance and control. With the rapid development of technology, these methods and systems have led to the development of autonomous navigation and control systems with wide-ranging applications, particularly in areas such as underground exploration, search and rescue, and other critical tasks. These advancements have greatly improved safety, efficiency, and reliability, driving higher standards of performance and innovation in the industry. This Special Issue of Applied Sciences is dedicated to exploring the latest breakthroughs and innovations in aircraft guidance and control techniques.

We invite high-quality research papers that address a wide range of topics, including multi-source autonomous navigation systems, autonomous flight control, human–machine interface, safety control, multi-sensor fusion, and collaborative localization for aircraft. Our primary objective is to provide a comprehensive platform for researchers and engineers to present their latest findings and share insights on cutting-edge techniques in aircraft guidance and control. We welcome original research articles and comprehensive reviews that align with the theme of this Special Issue.

Dr. Qinghua Li
Dr. Qingzhong Cai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • robust autonomous control
  • safety control
  • multi-source autonomous navigation
  • collaborative localization

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 717 KiB  
Article
Design of a Morphing Aircraft Based on Model Predictive Control
by Wei Ren, Yingjie Wei and Cong Wang
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(8), 4380; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15084380 - 16 Apr 2025
Viewed by 185
Abstract
Morphing aircraft can actively or passively change their shape in different flight environments and missions to ensure optimal flight performance at all flight stages, thereby enhancing environmental adaptability and meeting extensive multi-mission requirements. This paper proposes a stable flight control strategy for a [...] Read more.
Morphing aircraft can actively or passively change their shape in different flight environments and missions to ensure optimal flight performance at all flight stages, thereby enhancing environmental adaptability and meeting extensive multi-mission requirements. This paper proposes a stable flight control strategy for a variable-span aircraft based on Model Predictive Control (MPC). The Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) modeling approach is adopted to establish a longitudinal dynamic model that varies with the wingspan deformation rate. Without considering disturbances, a model predictive control strategy is designed to achieve dynamic stability control during flight. Considering the existence of composite disturbances during the morphing process, a robust model predictive control (RMPC) strategy is proposed, using set containment as the performance index. To verify the robustness of the control strategy, numerical tests are conducted under different wingspan deformation rates and disturbance intensities. The test results demonstrate that the RMPC strategy can effectively suppress external disturbances under various deformation rates, maintain stable flight speed and altitude, and ensure smooth transitions of critical flight state parameters such as angle of attack and pitch angle. These results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 6915 KiB  
Article
Calibration and Compensation of Gyro Drift Errors Based on External Rotational Angle Comparison in a Rotational Inertial Navigation System
by Wenqiang Li, Zeyang Wen, Gongliu Yang, Yanbei Zhang, Haozhou Mo, Jincheng Peng and Yuyu Xiong
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(3), 1667; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031667 - 6 Feb 2025
Viewed by 876
Abstract
The inertial navigation system (INS) is a robust and reliable navigation strategy to provide position, attitude and velocity information of a carrier with signal acquired from inertial sensors without external assistant. However, the lack of external correction information leads to the accumulation of [...] Read more.
The inertial navigation system (INS) is a robust and reliable navigation strategy to provide position, attitude and velocity information of a carrier with signal acquired from inertial sensors without external assistant. However, the lack of external correction information leads to the accumulation of navigation errors, thereby limiting the reliability and applicable range of INS. In a typical INS, the accuracy and robustness of INS are mainly hindered by sensor’s measuring accuracy, installation misalignments and navigation algorithm effectiveness. To address the limitations of navigation accuracy degradation caused by sensor measurement errors, a calibration and compensation method of the gyro bias was proposed to improve the navigation accuracy. Through analyzing the influence of individual navigation errors, we found that the bias noise of gyroscope is the dominant factor in degrading the navigation accuracy. Aiming to improve the performance of navigation, a rotational modulation method is employed to eliminate the influence of gyro bias drift. Specifically, the rotational modulation could average the gyro bias to zero through the periodic rotational mechanism. Furthermore, the rotational turntable output angle can be used to correct navigation-resolved attitude results, which has a highly precise angle and can be used to calibrate the gyro drift. By compensating for gyro bias in a navigation algorithm, the performance of the navigation results is improved by a matter of one order from 7 km to less than 1 km over a period of 6 h. Several individual navigation experiments were also conducted, and the results prove the effectiveness of our method. The theoretical and experimental results show that the proposed error analysis and the compensation method are feasible and can been applied to the practical navigation system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 17450 KiB  
Article
A Method to Improve Underwater Positioning Reference Based on Topological Distribution Constraints of Multi-INSs
by Yuyu Xiong, Gongliu Yang and Zeyang Wen
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(22), 10206; https://doi.org/10.3390/app142210206 - 7 Nov 2024
Viewed by 811
Abstract
This study investigates a data fusion method for underwater multi-inertial navigation based on topological distribution constraints, aimed at improving the positional accuracy of navigation systems on ships, and generating an underwater position reference. First, the state equation of single-axis rotational inertial navigation system [...] Read more.
This study investigates a data fusion method for underwater multi-inertial navigation based on topological distribution constraints, aimed at improving the positional accuracy of navigation systems on ships, and generating an underwater position reference. First, the state equation of single-axis rotational inertial navigation system (SRINS) is introduced to compensate for the equivalent gyroscope zero bias caused by gravity and magnetic field. Second, a flexible lever error equation based on the influence of flexural deformation angles between SRINSs is proposed. Third, by using the position difference between SRINSs as a measurement, the state and measurement equations of a centralized Kalman filter are analyzed. We conducted two sets of car experiments to verify the proposed data fusion method and a data acquisition system was used to synchronously collect measurement data from three SRINSs. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve overall positioning accuracy, with the root mean square (RMS) of longitude error reduced by approximately 8.4360%, latitude error RMS reduced by approximately 6.9174%, and overall positioning error RMS reduced by approximately 9.9492%. In certain conditions where other positioning methods are unavailable, such as underwater navigation, the proposed RINSs data fusion method can provide a highly reliable position reference. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 6638 KiB  
Article
Online Unmanned Ground Vehicle Path Planning Based on Multi-Attribute Intelligent Reinforcement Learning for Mine Search and Rescue
by Shanfan Zhang and Qingshuang Zeng
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(19), 9127; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14199127 - 9 Oct 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1196
Abstract
Aiming to improve the efficiency of the online process in path planning, a novel searching method is proposed based on environmental information analysis. Firstly, a search and rescue (SAR) environmental model and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) motion model are established according to [...] Read more.
Aiming to improve the efficiency of the online process in path planning, a novel searching method is proposed based on environmental information analysis. Firstly, a search and rescue (SAR) environmental model and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) motion model are established according to the characteristics of a mining environment. Secondly, an online search area path-planning method is proposed based on the gray system theory and the reinforcement learning theory to handle multiple constraints. By adopting the multi-attribute intelligent (MAI) gray decision process, the action selection decision can be dynamically adjusted based on the current environment, ensuring the stable convergence of the model. Finally, experimental verification is conducted in different small-scale mine SAR simulation scenarios. The experimental results show that the proposed search planning method can capture the target in the search area with a smoother convergence effect and a shorter path length than other path-planning algorithms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Techniques for Aircraft Guidance and Control)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop